NEW CD IS PUTTING SPARKS BACK IN THE FIREPLACE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9/16/00
Contact: Andy Wallman
608-770-6581

Last winter, on a snowy Wisconsin night, Jen Wallman and her husband did what millions of Americans do - she turned on their gas fireplace. A light bulb immediately went off over her head. She said to her husband, "All we get from this fireplace is a glow, a hum, and heat. You know whats missing? Sound." She suggested they produce a CD with the sounds of a real woodburning fireplace to make their fireplace experience even better.

Her husband Andy, an advertising writer and producer, replied with a reaction the two have gotten used to lately: snickers, immediately followed by "why the heck didnt I think of that?"

Andy approached Rob Haggar of Haggar Audio Productions with the idea. The two have made dozens of award-winning radio commercials over the past 12 years. As if scripted, Haggar initially laughed. Then he said "why didnt I think of that?"

The three were in business. And the compact disc "Firesounds" was born.

The result is a delightfully soothing 72-minute digitally recorded CD. All the pops, crackles and hisses of a real wood burning fireplace come through in stereo, but Haggar removed some of the sounds that dont match the look of a gas fireplace, like the big burn of the newspapers and kindling, giant pops, and falling logs. The CD also addresses a big flaw of many gas fireplaces by covering up the annoying hum of the blower motor.

Andy says the three are hoping the soothing effect of the disc will strike a chord with consumers who want to decompress from today's hectic lifestyle. "When you listen to Firesounds, you seem to naturally relax. Your TV is off. Your home is quite. And you get a very pleasant, tranquil feeling. In fact, one friend uses it when teaching her meditation class."

The effect works. "I was mastering the disc on my workstation, the same kind used for feature film production", says Haggar. "An employee was in the studio working on another project, and after a few minutes, he said ‘Rob, is it kind of warm in here? Then I knew supplementing sound to one of historys oldest pleasures was a powerful idea."

Its a market with great potential. According to Hearth and Home magazine, the fireplace retailers publication, 63% of gas fireplace retailers expect a slight to large increase in fireplace sales in 2000, after having a robust 1999. Plus, there are millions of gas fireplaces in homes and cabins already in use. Moreover, Jen adds "As far as we know, we're the one and only disc out there in mass distribution."

The word is spreading. The CD is available online, and is slowly getting into fireplace retailers. In the first three weeks, the trio has marketed to fireplace retailers, with requests coming in from Alaska to Florida. The product has been written about in publications in Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas.

The goal of the three behind Firesounds? To have their CD used with every gas fireplace in North America.

"Okay, it's a big goal. After all, this is a mom and pop business", says Jen. "But that makes it fun. Our barn is the warehouse, and I do fulfillment from our home office with my three ‘assistants, aged 7 to 16 months. The girls help put the shipping boxes together, fold the invoices and take boxes to the post office with me. Making it a family affair makes it fun for us."

The three behind Firesounds hope their disc is fun for gas fireplace owners too.

Firesounds can be found on the web at www.firesoundscd.com.

###